X-Men: First Class reviews good for summer's start

With the temperature in the mid-90s here in Baltimore, it's time to start thinking about summer movies (and air-conditioned theaters), and one of the first big-budget offerings is "X-Men: First Class," which has been getting good reviews. The prequel examines how the mutants come to grips with their powers. Here are some early reviews for the movie, which is based on the Marvel comics series and hits theaters Friday:

-- Orlando Sentinel: “X-Men: First Class” still sings the praises of Marvel Studios’ marvelous quality control of comic book movies. It’s good, clean summer movie fun where the money they spend is up on the screen — with actors and effects — so that we won’t mind spending our money on it.

-- Variety: Despite a somewhat hefty 130-minute running time, "First Class" feels swift, sleek and remarkably coherent; an even longer, more fully fleshed-out version would not have been unwelcome. Visual effects designed by John Dykstra are smoothly and imaginatively integrated, and Henry Jackman's score provides fantastic forward momentum.

-- The Hollywood Reporter: Much as Casino Royale rebooted the James Bond franchise in a fresh and dynamic way, X-Men: First Class injects new blood into a franchise that, for all its profitability, had become blandly anemic. In fact, roughly the first half of this massive and very well cast origins extravaganza is arguably the best hour of Marvel Comics-derived filmmaking among the torrent of it that's cascaded across screens in recent years.